The invention relates to a potting machine for potting flowerpots, with a conveying device comprising a plurality of pot retainers for a respective flowerpot, and with a housing ring surrounding the conveying device.
Potting machines of the aforementioned type are already known from practice. Such potting machines comprise a conveying device, generally a type of carousel, which revolves during the potting operation. The conveying device comprises a plurality of pot retainers on which respective flowerpots are arranged. The conveying device is surrounded by a housing ring which outwardly delimits the potting machine and additionally serves to catch falling soil during the potting operation.
The operation of potting flowerpots using such a potting machine generally takes place continuously owing to the revolving conveying device, whereby the process steps of only one pot are discussed in detail below. First of all the flowerpot to be potted is removed from a stack of flowerpots and placed on a free pot retainer of the conveying device. In the next process step the flowerpot is filled with soil. A hole is then made in the soil which has been filled into the pot, so that a plant to be potted can be inserted in the next process step. Finally, the flowerpot is removed from the conveying device and discharged via a discharge belt for further use. The aforementioned individual process steps here may be automated, partially automated or else carried out manually.
Since it is required to identify the plants that have been potted, the flowerpots are labeled. What happens in practice is that flowerpots which have already been labeled beforehand are delivered to the potting company, with the result that ready-labeled flowerpots are supplied to the potting machine. However, prelabeling has various disadvantages. On the one hand, prelabeling requires sufficient logistics with appropriate storage provision at the premises of the potting company, since corresponding quantities of prelabeled flowerpots have always to be kept in store. On the other hand, the labels applied beforehand to the flowerpots may become soiled, damaged or even tom during the potting operation. The object of the present invention is thus to avoid the problems mentioned above.
To achieve the above-indicated object, the potting machine comprises a labeling device assigned thereto for labeling the flowerpots. The labeling device itself comprises a dispensing tongue for stripping off the labels and applying them to the flowerpots. Furthermore, the labeling device is connected to a positioning device which comprises a joint and has a positioning arm in order in this way to enable the labeling machine to be pivoted and the dispensing tongue to be positioned against the flowerpots.
The design according to the invention offers a number of advantages. The direct assignment of the labeling device to the potting machine ensures that it is no longer necessary for flowerpots with ready-applied labels to be held in stock. The labeling operation takes place directly in conjunction with the potting operation and thus in dependence on the plants to be potted. Only corresponding labels have to be held in stock, or else a printer is required which prints the labels in situ shortly before application to the flowerpots. Furthermore, the direct assignment of the labeling device to the potting machine means that the labeling process is integrated into the potting process, this not being a problem owing to the continuous operation of the potting machine, and the potting speed not being adversely affected by the labeling. Particular importance attaches to the positioning device in this regard. The positioning device with the positioning arm and the joint makes it readily possible for the user to pivot the labeling device into a use position, in which the dispensing tongue bears against the flowerpots for application of the labels, or into a non-use position when no labels are applied to the flowerpots.
It will of course be understood in this regard that the integration of the labeling device into the potting process, and thus the labeling, is tailored to the speed of the conveying device such that each flowerpot is provided with a label.
It is of particular advantage for the positioning arm to be connected to a mounting means for detachable mounting on the housing ring or on a discharge belt assigned to the potting machine. The detachable mounting of the labeling device on the potting machine or on the discharge belt assigned to the potting machine finally results in two significant advantages. First, existing potting machines may be readily retrofitted with the labeling device according to the invention comprising a positioning device. Second, the labeling device according to the invention may be integrated at any point into the potting process as required. Labeling may thus take place, for example, between the flowerpot-destacking and soil-filling operations or else while the flowerpots are being discharged.
In order to allow rapid and secure mounting, the mounting means may be intended for frictional and/or positive mounting. Thus, for example, it is readily possible for the mounting means to be clamped on or to the housing ring or else attached thereto by a screw fixing. The mounting means may be formed, for example, as a bent sheet-metal portion provided with a central locating slot. The locating slot is made to match the thickness of the housing ring and is pushed onto the latter from above. It will of course be understood that it is also possible in principle to provide a non-detachable mounting instead of the detachable mounting. In both cases, however, the joint between the mounting means and the positioning arm is provided so as to allow a movement of the first positioning arm with respect to the mounting means.
Although it is possible to position the labeling device using only one positioning arm, which may, if appropriate, also have a number of bent or angled portions, provision may also be made for the positioning device to comprise at least one further positioning arm, the individual positioning arms then being connected to one another in each case via a further joint. In this case it is appropriate to connect the labeling device to the further positioning arm. In the case of the one-armed embodiment, the labeling device is then accordingly connected to the single positioning arm.
To enable both small and large flowerpots to be labeled at the desired point, provision is additionally made for the labeling device to be height-adjustable, in particular via the positioning device. This height adjustment may take place in principle at any point between the mounting means and the dispensing tongue. A structurally particularly simple embodiment provides that the positioning arm is height-adjustable with respect to the mounting means, in which case the positioning arm is designed as an angle and comprises a horizontal leg and a vertical leg. The horizontal leg here is used for mounting the labeling device, while the vertical leg is used for mounting and height adjustment. The vertical leg in this case is then part of the joint. Moreover, the horizontal leg as part of the further joint makes it possible not only to pivot the labeling device about the longitudinal axis of the horizontal leg but also to displace it along the horizontal leg.
A spring device which acts on the labeling device may be provided so that the dispensing tongue of the labeling device is positioned automatically and with the required pressing force against the flowerpots. In the case of the two-armed embodiment, the spring device may then be designed as at least one tension-spring means which is provided between the positioning arms. In the case of the one-armed embodiment, i.e. where there is only one positioning arm, the tension-spring means is provided between the positioning arm and the housing ring or else the discharge belt, depending on the arrangement of the labeling device.
In order to tailor the labeling device, and thus the dispensing tongue, to the conicality of the flowerpots, it is appropriate for the labeling device to be able to pivot about the longitudinal axis of the positioning arm or of the further positioning arm or about an axis parallel thereto. A further joint is then provided for this purpose.
It is possible in principle to design the individual joints in the manner of simple hinges such that pivoting is possible about only one axis. However, it is also possible in principle to design individual hinges or each of the hinges such that movement is possible about at least two axes. Also included here incidentally are ball joints, which after all allow movement in any direction.
However, the joints should in each case be assigned locking means for locking in any pivoting position to enable the labeling device to be fixed in any desired position as required.